5 Steps to Negotiating Your Salary

Marcianne Kuethen

July 18, 2012

Salary negotiation seems like the proverbial elephant in the interview room–you don’t like to be the one to ask for a raise, and it may not occur to your employer to volunteer one. How do you approach the subject?

Or in your second or third interview with a company, you know they’re going to ask what salary range you’re expecting. You don’t want to blow it and ask for too little…or too much. How do you know what salary is fair?

If you’re working with a staffing agency, your recruiter will know what’s a fair salary and help negotiate a good offer. But if you’re on your own, you can check out the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics or use a tool like Salary.com to help you prepare to negotiate. Salary.com lays out five valuable steps of negotiation:

1. Agree on a benchmark job.

2. Agree on your proficiency and performance level.

3. Agree on the market value of the job.

4. Agree on where your salary should fall.

5. Agree on what performance is necessary for future salary increases.

Knowing these steps should at least shrink that elephant in the room! For a more thorough explanation of each point, read the full article and find out if Salary.com’s tool is for you.

Salary.com article written by Johanna Schlegel.